Understanding the Cyber Risk Exposures Within the Health Care Industry


The health care industry is one of the most popular and lucrative targets for cyberattacks and malicious activity. Health care organizations always present as an attractive proposition to hackers as they possess high volumes of sensitive information about patients and rely on highly vulnerable medical devices.


Advancements in medical procedures and the growth in digital innovation have led to an increase in the complexity of networks and security. Medical firms need to ensure they protect their data, employees and patients with appropriate data integrity and security solutions that don’t break the bank while controlling costs.


The danger is real. IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report found that health care organizations suffered the highest costs of data breaches for the 11th consecutive year in 2021. This year saw the average cost of a health care data breach surge to $9.23 million, a 29.5% increase from the previous year. That’s more than any other industry, with the financial sector being a distant second, at $5.72 million. Furthermore, medical organizations have seen a 185% increase in the number of health care data breaches this year compared with last year. 


Significant Challenges to Health Care Cybersecurity


Health care organizations face significant vulnerabilities from outdated or legacy technologies that are attractive targets for today’s cyber attackers. To make matters worse, a majority of the newer medical devices are still not being developed with cybersecurity controls in mind. Traditional vulnerability management approaches present several challenges within modern health care IT environments. New devices and technical limitations can make traditional methods largely ineffective.


Health care cybersecurity is threatened on a number of fronts, including:


Phishing Attacks


Cybercriminals target victims through email, social media and ..

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